California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 2,380 Shares of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 386,815 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,380 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.40% of VeriSign worth $80,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,799 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,102,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of VeriSign in the third quarter valued at $1,444,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 0.4% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 24,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,587,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of VeriSign by 18.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 17,441 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,313,000 after acquiring an additional 2,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of VeriSign by 542.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 37,635 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,149,000 after acquiring an additional 31,775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.90% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VeriSign news, SVP John Calys sold 447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $231.75, for a total value of $103,592.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,500,586.25. This trade represents a 1.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.84% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on VRSN. Robert W. Baird upgraded VeriSign from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Baird R W upgraded VeriSign from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut VeriSign from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of VeriSign from $246.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

VeriSign Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VRSN opened at $253.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.02 billion, a PE ratio of 31.73 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $231.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $205.23. VeriSign, Inc. has a twelve month low of $167.05 and a twelve month high of $257.14.

VeriSign (NASDAQ:VRSN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The information services provider reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00. VeriSign had a negative return on equity of 43.01% and a net margin of 50.47%.

VeriSign Profile

VeriSign, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides domain name registry services and internet infrastructure that enables internet navigation for various recognized domain names worldwide. The company enables the security, stability, and resiliency of internet infrastructure and services, including providing root zone maintainer services, operating two of thirteen internet root servers; and offering registration services and authoritative resolution for the .com and .net domains, which supports global e-commerce.